This time, the topic is about maintaining stamina during the month of Ramadan or fasting month, yoga exercises that can be done during the fasting month, and what kind of food that can provide energy and stamina during the fasting month.
Below is the list of questions and my answers:
How many times a day the yoga practice can be done in the fasting month?
It all depends on the practitioners. If you are familiar with the yoga practice every day, then you can do yoga exercise more than once before dawn, before iftar, and / or after iftar.
For the beginners, as they feel too weak in the fasting month, they might be able to do yoga exercise only once at the time before breaking the fast, so the fatigue and the thirst during the yoga exercises can be directly solved when they eat food at iftar.
Yoga exercises can also be done after eating food at iftar, but keep in mind that the amount of food consumed at this time should not be too much. A few sips of water and 3 dates or a piece of fruit are enough to be consumed to break the fast before doing the yoga exercises, because the yoga practice is best to be done when our stomach is empty. Actually even any sports activities that we do should be done when our stomach is empty, so that the digestive process is not turned upwards again which can make us feel nauseated and may vomit that it can disturbed the physical exercise we do and disrupt our health.
To keep our stamina in a good condition in this fasting month, what kind of food that we can consume before we start fasting?
Because fasting put us into a condition where we do not eat in a long time, it is necessary to arrange our stomach to be always full. So the best food for this fasting month is those filled with fiber. You can consume 60% of vegetables - whether raw or cooked, 30% protein from plant materials - such as tofu, tempeh and beans, and 10% carbohydrates - especially from brown rice. The remaining portion can be filled by water that should be consumed slowly and gradually from early morning when you wake up until the start of your fasting moment.
At the breaking of your fasting, it is a good time to consume fresh fruits without sugar and other sweeteners. Then at dinner time, you can repeat the same kind of food that you consume before dawn.
One thing to remember is that you do not consume liquids that can make you dehydrated, such as tea, coffee and other soft drinks.
By doing this kind of diet, you fasting will be felt lighter, your stamina will be maintained well and you even have more healthy body.
As we know, Astrid is Raw Food Diet Practitioner. So, for any Raw Food Diet practitioners, is there any specific rules during the Ramadan month?
During the fasting month, the Raw Food Diet practitioners can still carry out the practice of eating raw food that they have done. The Raw Food Diet is precisely very suitably carried out in this fasting month. The raw food diet is full of fiber which is also a requirement to keep the stomach feel full even though we do not eat for several hours. It is good, isn't it?
What is important is that we should consume the raw food more frequently outside of the fasting moment.
An example is to start the meal before you start fasting by eating fiber from fresh raw vegetables, and consuming protein from vegetables, like nuts, almond milk and avocado. All these food sources have carbohydrates, so you do not need to worry about your carbohydrate intake. Do not forget to drink enough water before you start fasting. Then you can break the fast with a bowl of fresh fruit that has a minimum of three different colors so that your body can absorb different vitamins. You can then repeat the food you consume before you start fasting as your dinner, of course, with other types of raw foods. You can close the day before you sleep at night by eating a bowl of fresh fruit once again. Do not forget to consume enough water and avoid the consumption of tea, coffee, soft drinks and alcohol.
This kind of diet is good for your nutrition in this fasting month.
What kind of yoga practice in the office that can keep our stamina fit in this fasting month but will not spend too much energy?
To keep your stamina in a fit condition, these are the yoga practice you can do:
By sitting in a chair.
- Raise the hands up and down alternately as many as 10 rounds of breath. (Note: One round of breath is inhale as we raise our hands up and exhale as we lower our hands down).
- Interlace the fingers of both hands, open the palms up and pull the wrist upwards. Hold for 10 breaths.
- Rotate the body to the left and to the right side. Hold for 10 breaths on each side.
- Extend the legs forward with toes directed toward yourself. Hold for 10 breaths.
In standing position:
- Pull both hands up and bend your body to the left side for 10 breaths and to the right side for 10 breaths as well.
- Holding the ankle with the hand from the same side and pull it to the back. Hold for 10 breaths and do the other side as well.
- Do Warrior 1 pose. Hold the position for 10 breaths.
- Do Warrior 2 pose. Hold for 10 breaths.
You can combine these yoga exercises with your regular yoga practice that you do everyday.
Keep in mind to avoid lowering your head down. Fasting makes your body become a little weak; and the movement to put head down lower than your waist will make your body feel more weaker and your head becomes dizzy.
Are there any tips for the office people to keep the stamina fit in this fasting month?
To keep the stamina fit during the fasting month, eat a nutritious diet full of fiber to keep you feeling full and to keep away the malnutrition from your body; drink enough water and do not drink tea, coffee, soft drinks and alcohol so that you can keep your body hydrated; keep a light exercise regularly to keep your body in shape in this fasting month; and have an enough time to rest and sleep so that your concentration at work remains good.
Happy fasting!
